Car-coupling.



CAR GOUPLING.

APPLICATION FILED APB.. 29, 1910.

' Panta June. 9, 1914 WITNESSES H.. T. KRAKAU.

GAR GOUPLING.

APPLICATION um) Arms, 1910.

Patented June 9, 1914.

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l wil-masses y xNvsNron M7. @uw Y UNITED sTArEs PATENT oni-TICE.

' tranny ir; xRAKAU, or CLEVELANIL oHIo, AssIGNon To THE NATIONAL MALLEABLE CASTINGS ooivrrnNY,y or CLEVELAND, oHIo, A `CORPORATION or oHIo.

can-conrmne.

Specification f Letters Patent Patent-ed 11118 9, 1914:.

lApplication iledApril 29, 1910. Serial No. 558,455.

\ To all wiz-.omit may concern:

Be itxknown that I, HARRY T. KRAKAU, Y `acitizen ,of the United States, and a resil dent of Cleveland,.Cuyahoga county, State of Ohio, haveinvented a new and useful Improvement in Car-Couplings, of which the following is a' full, clear, and exact description, reference being had tov the accompanying drawings, forming part of 'this specification, in which- Y Figure 1 1s a plan view partly in sectlon of portionv jof a railway car wunder-framing, ishowingmy invention applied thereto;."Fig; 2 `is fa ,longitudinal sectlon of the 15,-same;-Fig. y3 Vis .a ldetail cross sectional Vview;yI4`i'g.. 4t is a perspective view showingv f oneof the/thmbleplatesyand thimbles; and

Fig.- 5 is a View partly in side elevationand partlyin vvertical section showing a modification.v ,l .I

' My inventiony has relation to coupling mechanism for yrailway cars, vand is .de-

signed to provide .means for permitting greatertvertical movementof the couplersr 2@ without distortion of -their parts when one carmakes a vertical 'angle with another.

I have .determined that when` two couplers of the ordinary vertical plane type having the regular Master Car Builders1 linesv are coupled, together, when one car makes `a vertical angle with another, as in ascending -a gra-de or'when the cars pass over a hump, the coupler knuckles bear t against eachk other with tremendous pressure andare either distorted or will distort or break the lugs of the/couplers, if the vertical angle exceeds a slight degree. This is due in part to the fact that with this type of coupler as ordinarily used, there is 4Overy little clearance between the bi1-lling faces ofi-the knuckles and the bufiing'faces lof the opposing couplers and also to the @rigidity of thev attachment of the coupler to the draft rigging and thence to the car.

My inventionprovides means of simple and edective character whereby this rigidity of attachment isy overcome and provision is made for a suflicient vertical movebo mentof the coupler and draft riggingjto permit of a considerable vertical angling of the coupled cars without danger of 1njury to the parts. 4 f

Referring to the accompanying drawings, in which I have illustrated a preferred embodiment of my invention and which will now be described, premising, however, .that mg' invention is susceptible of various modi cations in the form and larrangement ofthe various parts, the numeral. 2 designates a coupler havin'g bu'lfing wings or flanges 2a on the coupler head, and attached by means of bolts 3 to adr-aft gear, casing' or housing 4. .lVithin "this housing can be placed yany suitable' shockabsorbing mechanism, such as springs yor, frictionfdraft gear, adapted to beinclosedby a forwardly extending yoke 5,'to acti in the usual 'manner of draft springs' and draft gear. The rear end portions of the yoke 5 terminate in thickened portions 5n -which have holes therein for the insertionof ayertical pivot pin 6, about which the coupler and'draft gear can swing laterally.

As thus far described, the device does not differ essentially from radial draft gears heretofore made. The yoke 5,' however, instead of being pivoted bythe pin 6 di,-

Arectly to a bolster casting integral with or attached to the car bolster, as is' usual, is pivoted to a member or casting 7, which member or casting is, in turn, pivoted at its rearend portion by means of a horizontally extending pinv 8 between lugs 9 of a bolster casting 10. By means vof this 'horizontal pivot 8, the coupler and the draft gear to-which the coupler is attached can, therefore, swing not only laterally about thepivot (i, but also in a vertical direction, thus compensating for the vertical angling of the cars in passing over a hump ofthe -track or in passing over a straight track to -a suddenly ascending or descending grade.

Beneath.l the coupler shank 2b is a segmentalcasting l1, in the shape of a portion of an arc of a circle, whosecenter coincides withthe center of the vertical pin G. ,Instead of the shank of the coupler resting directly upon the casting 11 and sliding thereon in its horizontal or lateral movements, I provide upper and lower thimble plate 12,", having bosses or thimbles 13. The bosses 13 of the lower thimble plate project upwardly through the bottom portion of the hollow coupler shank and into the interior thereof, while the thimbles of the upper plate project downwardly Vthrough the upper wall of the shank. 'I he lower thimble plat/e is 'arranged to bear upon the casting or support 11, while the upper the under side of theoverhanging into register with the top and vbottom thim thiinble plate is arranged to bear against ,Before the thimble plates are place A'in position, centering springs .15 are inserted through a suitable aperture in the` coupler shank and are pushed forward so as to come ble-receiving holes ofthe shank.. The thim- -blesaare then inserted in the'holes provided for themr and aresecured from removal hy means of bolts and' nuts, 16, after which the. Icou ler is, ready forits attachment to the gear and thence to,the.car. Theends vof thes'prings 15 bear against washers 17.

4The thimbles are shown.l as being of cruciform shape, see-Fig. 4, for a portion of their length, andthe washers are provided ,withl i v openings 'of corresponding form,l the washers' being free to slide onthe thimbles only a portion. of the length thereof, by reason of thisiorm. The action of these centering 'LL springsz will'be apparent'. They allow the` coupler .to move` vertically either up or vdown from the `normal ACenter line. of the coupler, whiley upon the` removal of any` force tending' to throw the coupler out of i such central line, .theyy act to return the i coupler and draft rigging to the central po. sit'ion.,y

vao

.In the modification shown in Fig. 5, the

construction is the same as that first de-` scribed, except that vthe bottomwall of the coupler shankiQ" is provided with enlarged v i openings 2 sufficient to receive not only the lthe centering springs, l5, which inthis case- `bosses of the lower thimble plate, butalso are made longerand rest at their lower ends directly upon the thimble plate. The

. upper ends of the springs rest against the lwashers 18, which are similar to the washf ers 17 vbefore described. In this 'construction, the coupler and attached draft rigging are spring 'resisted only against downward movementv l If raised above this normal central position, gravity will insure its return 4to the. center line as soon` as the distorting ,force ceases to act.

.-Th'e advantagesfof myinvention result ,from the'provision of means for permittingI suficientnvertical,movement of the coupler and :draft rigging to` compensatefor verti- ;cal angling of the cars and from the pro- 'ifiirivision of means'whereby thecoupler in the sition-.will be held in such position. Itl willl .be obvious that various .arrangementsof cen-v ytering springs may. be provided for thispur;

absence of any:l force acting to move the coupler and draft rigging out of its normal posill 14.

pose, that the invention vis applicable to other forms of couplers and draft gear than the form which I have shown and described and that'various other changes may be made 'inthe details of construction and arrangement ofthe parts, without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention as defined in .the appended claims.

I claim: I, 1. In car coupling mechanism, av draft member comprised of a coupler and a draft rigging, the draft member having a universal connection with the car, a vertical guide member passing through the draft member, upon which the coupler is guided in its vertical movements, and a spring seated uponthe guide member` `within` the draft member and adapted to yieldinglyfcenter the draft member in normal horizontal position..` i

2. Inlcar .coupling mechanism, theeombinationwith a lcoupler mounted for vertical movement, ofase mental casting below the coupler shank, `thimble plates mounted on,

said segmental casting and having vertically extending Vbosses or thimbles which pass through said shank, andsprings surrounding said thimbles within the shank and actstantialhly as describeoh f 4. In car-coupling mechanism, a coupler, a draft rigging mounted and connected for ',both'vertical and lateral movements, a'fsup- .porting member extendinghunderneath the shank of the coupler, a bearlng overhanglng the shank of the coupler, and centering devices carried by the shank of the coupler and arranged to engage said support and bearing, said de'vice's comprising lthimble members extending into the shank of the couy pler, land a spring 'seated upon said members within thezcouple siiank, substantially as described, l

,In testimony whereofmll have hereunto set my hand. y 1

,YV HARRY T. KRAKAU. VVitnesse's;4 CHESTER K. Bno'ons,

Henin* ORB. ,Y y y 

